Recording apparatus

Abstract

A recording apparatus for performing a recording operation on recording paper includes a recording head for performing the recording operation on the recording paper, a carriage which carries the recording head, and is movable along a convey path of the recording paper, a conveying unit for conveying the recording paper, a drive source, and a lock pawl which is arranged along a moving path of the carriage and can transmit a drive force from the drive source to the conveying unit in accordance with movement of the carriage.

What is claimed is:  
     
       1. A recording apparatus for recording, using a recording head, onto a sheet member conveyed to a recording area where recording is performed by the recording head, said apparatus comprising: 
       sheet member holding means for holding a stack of sheet members to be conveyed to the recording area;  
       a separating supply roller supplying a sheet member in the stack of sheet members held by said sheet member holding means from said sheet member holding means to the recording area, said separating supply roller having a peripheral surface contactable with the sheet member from the stack and supplying the sheet member upon a predetermined rotation amount of the peripheral surface;  
       a pinch roller provided between said separating supply roller and the recording area and in a sheet member conveyance route immediately after said separating supply roller with respect to a conveyance direction of the sheet member, said pinch roller pinching and conveying the sheet member, supplied by said separating supply roller, in association with an opposed member;  
       detecting means located between said separating supply roller and said pinch roller for detecting the sheet member conveyed from said separating supply roller to said pinch roller;  
       a carriage mounting the recording head thereon and reciprocally moving the recording head in an area including the recording area;  
       switching means for issuing a command to enable a drive transmitting route for the supplying of the sheet member to the recording area by said separating supply roller in accordance with the movement of said carriage to outside the recording area; and  
       control means for rotating said separating supply roller by a predetermined amount again in a case in which the sheet member conveyed by said separating supply roller to the recording area is not detected by said detecting means after said switching means has issued a command to enable the drive transmitting route.  
     
     
       2. A recording apparatus according to claim  1 , wherein the recording head is an ink jet recording head performing the recording operation by discharging an ink drop on the sheet member.